Guard Roleplaying Guide
In the interests of promoting and assisting the believability of the Stormwind legal system, a number of individuals have contributed to guides for legal role-play. This Guard Roleplaying Guide contains pointers and tips to those who would role-play standing as a judge in a court. Disclaimer: It is by no means mandatory for individuals to follow this guide when role-playing guards. It is merely a list of suggestions that individuals can adopt for their own role-play. Cuddy had only been a guard for a few days, but already he had absorbed one important and basic fact: it is almost impossible for anyone to be in a street without breaking the law. (Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms, Discworld Series) =Law Enforcement Process= ---- The Law Enforcement Process in role-play consists of several steps; starting from when a Guard witnesses or is alerted of a crime and ending when the associated criminal is punished. The key and often overlooked concept in law enforcement role-play is that both the guard AND the criminal role-player should be having fun throughout the entire process. Nobody wants their input about their own character to be completely disregarded or "god moded" into an untimely death or punishment. To ensure that both sides of a conflict have fun role-play, the participants must maintain constant out-of-character communication about the details of the encounter. Due to the fact that guard and other law-enforcement role-players are often in greater numbers than criminals in these role-play conflicts, it falls especially on guards to maintain out-of-character communication so that the criminal role-players' wishes are not steamrolled by the majority. Initial Encounter Agreement The Initial Encounter Agreement of the Law Enforcement Process occurs when a guard role-player witnesses a crime in progress or when a character notifies a guard of a crime in-character. It is very important at this point for the guard role-player to ask all participants of the encounter, including the criminal and victim role-players, how they would want the guard to get involved. Some criminal players don't want their characters to be captured or killed for the sake of their character's or guild's plot. In other cases, a guard or their law-enforcing guild might not have the resources or time to completely process a criminal if they captured one. In those situations, a guard might offer out-of-character to give an opportunity for the criminal to escape during the fight. On the same token, a guard role-player can also ask for an opportunity for their character to escape if the criminal wins in the conflict. In general, a guard should do his or her best to make sure that everyone in the encounter is on the same page on an out-of-character level. Arrival at the Crime Scene Once the guard and all involved in the conflict have spoken on an out-of-character level to clear up any requests for the plot of the encounter, the role-play begins at the Arrival at the Crime Scene. The guard should make his way to the crime scene if he or she is not already there. In general, a guard should not make any declarations when combat is already underway. If the crime scene has ongoing combat when the guard arrives, he or she should determine what Combat System the combatants are using before joining the fray and attempt to break up the fight. If or when there is no visible combat at the scene of the crime, the guard should state his or her name and position and ask how he can be of assistance to those present. For Example: "Good citizens! I am Corporal Johnson of the Stormwind City Guard. How can I be of assistance?" The guard should take note of everyone at the crime scene says and decide how to proceed with what evidence is present and what testimony is given. If there are severely wounded characters at the scene, the guard should attempt to heal or treat the wounded. Secure a Warrant A warrant is unnecessary if the crime is occurring when the guard arrives, or if there are multiple, varied witnesses that give the same account. If the criminal is not present or identified at the scene of the crime, or if the crime happened a significant amount of time in the past, the guard must Secure a Warrant to arrest a suspected criminal. The guard must present evidence and testimony in order to convince the magistrate to approve an arrest. If the victim is dead or unable to give testimony, the guard will have a more difficult time figuring out who the criminal is. The guard should investigate the crime scene for evidence and secure warrants as they can from Magistrates for possible suspects. In the Stormwind Law Project, a guard must seek out a magistrate not in their guild for a Stormwind Warrant for Arrest. This is to promote inter-guild role-play! Declare an Arrest If the alleged criminal role-player is found and identified with significant evidence or testimony, the guard role-player can choose to Declare an Arrest. This is done by declaring what crime the criminal is under arrest for and that the criminal will be taken in for questioning. For Example: "Larry Goosemonger, you are under arrest for assaulting Jimothy Blake! You will be taken to the Stockades for questioning." If the criminal character cooperates, the guard should take the criminal's weapons, bind the criminal with handcuffs or other means, and escort them to the Questioning site. If not, be prepared for combat and determine the Combat System! Combat System If combat is imminent between the guard and criminal after the declaration of arrest, they must collectively decide what Combat System to use. *A Roll-Based System where all players join a party or raid and /roll against each other after each attempted emoted action to see if their actions are successful. This is considered to be the fairest system since it produces random results. *A Free-Form System where all players emote and base the result of the conflict on logical combat. This is the most often used system. *A PvP Duel where individual players fight using in-game PvP mechanics to resolve the fight. This can be hard to do if the conflict is in a capital city, where duels are forbidden. Combat generally persists until either all of the criminals or guards are knocked out or incapacitated. As mentioned earlier, both sides of the fight can agree out-of-character to have one side escape during the fight for the sake of their characters' plot or time. All combat participants must be open minded when it comes to the results of a fight. No character or organization is invincible. If the "good guys" or the "bad guys" always win, law enforcement role-play becomes stale and boring to all of its participants. A healthy mix of wins and losses for both guards and criminal role-players ensures that everyone can have a chance for character development. Questioning After the arrest is made and any combat settles, the guard should promptly escort the criminal to the determined Questioning site. This can be any guard post, like the Stockades or any form of barracks or military outpost. A guard can only keep a prisoner for one hour unless they charge them with a crime. The criminal should be searched for any further weaponry or contraband like poisons or stolen goods and kept in their bindings unless they can be safely placed in a prison cell. From there, the guard should take out note-taking materials and begin to question the criminal. Even though the criminal might not cooperate, the guard should ask why the crime was committed and follow up with relevant questions. The guard should write a description of the criminal for any future incidents. The victims and any witnesses to the crime should also be questioned about their involvement in the encounter. Keep in mind that not all information provided will be accurate or truthful. The more information gathered about the crime, the better truth can be discerned and justice can be served. In the Stormwind Law Project, a guard who arrests a criminal must seek out a magistrate not in their guild to conduct their court trial. This is to promote inter-guild role-play! Imprisonment and Punishment A criminal should only be kept imprisoned until his or her punishment is determined. The criminal may request to have their case heard in court so long as they are willing to remain imprisoned while waiting for a court date to be established. If the criminal opts to not have their case heard in court, it falls upon the law enforcing organization who captured the criminal to issue an appropriate punishment or set him or her free based on the gathered evidence and testimony. Generally a guild leader will discuss the punishment out-of-character with the criminal role-player before the punishment is issued to handle any plot requests. =Foreign Criminals= ---- The law enforcement process changes significantly when a character does not hold citizenship within the nation they commit a crime. Diplomatic Immunity If a guard role-player encounters a crime committed by a foreign national role-player, they are to follow the above procedure up to and including capturing and imprisoning the character. However, when it comes to issuing punishment for a crime, foreign nationals are handled differently. If the criminal role-player is a registered diplomat or from a diplomatic organization, they would generally have Diplomatic Immunity. Diplomatic immunity grants a diplomat reprieve from being punished in for any crimes committed in the nation where they are a diplomat. This is not to be confused with reprieve from consequences, however. Should a foreign diplomat commit a crime, the diplomat can be arrested by the nation's guard and held as a prisoner until the diplomat's home nation can arrange reparations for the diplomat's crime. Gold or other goods may be offered by the home nation of the diplomat to satisfy the cost of the crime. The home nation of a diplomat can also offer to punish the diplomat themselves. If the home nation of a diplomat cannot arrange satisfactory reparations or punishment for a crime the diplomat committed, then the diplomat may be banished from the nation they are a diplomat to. A list of diplomats and diplomatic organizations participating in the Stormwind Law Project can be found on the Diplomat to Stormwind article. Non-Diplomat Foreign Nationals Foreign nationals who are not diplomats or part of diplomatic organizations are held to the regular procedure of law enforcement. They can be punished within the nation that they commit a crime. The only thing they are afforded is that an emissary from their home nation can come and be present to ensure fair proceedings. =International Crime= ---- If a character commits a crime in one nation and flees to another nation, guards more often than not are forbidden from following. However, if the two nations are close allies, exceptions may be made and justice can be served across borders. Extradition If two nations are allied and a criminal in one nation flees to the other, the pursuing nation can request for the criminal to be '''Extradited', or apprehended and sent to face justice in the nation where he or she committed a crime. Extradition requests can certainly be denied, but often times extradition requests are honored to maintain the alliance and good terms between two nations. In the role-playing scene, guilds that represent law-enforcing bodies of nations (The Stormwind Guard, Magus Senate of Dalaran, etc.) can interact with one another and arrange extradition requests via role-play. International Investigation If two nations are allied and a criminal in one nation flees to the other, the pursuing nation can also request permission for their guards to follow the criminal into the other nation. This is often combined with an Extradition request so that the criminal in question is pursued by both nations at the same time. At all times during an International Investigation, the pursuing nation's investigators must maintain communication with the host nation. Category:Law Category:Guides Category:Roleplaying Guides Category:Stormwind Guard